The Great Escape
by GallagherGirl-IWish
Summary: One-shot of what happens when Cammie returns based on P!ink's song The Great Esacpe, quite sad but still please read it! Then a tear slide down Zach's face as Cammie's eyes shut and her breathing stopped, her palm had dropped from Zach's face and to her leg.


**This is a one shot that came into my mind after I fell in love with this song, it is filled with so much emotion I can't help but cry when I listen to it. I am going to try and make this filled with angst, it is of The Great Escape by P!nk. **

**Disclaimer: Ally Carter own the Gallagher Girls and P!nk owns the song.**

**Everything in all of the books has happened this is what it is like once Cammie returns.**

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_I can understand how the edges are rough_

_And they cut you like the tiny slithers of glass_

_And you feel too much_

_And you don't know how long you're gonna last,_

She sat in the far corner of the glass room her face blank as she stared at the black board that had white scribbles across it. Her face was pale as the chalk on the board; her hair was messy with her natural dishwasher blonde roots coming through the scalp of her head. The girl's skin had been pulled tight around her skull outlining her razor sharp jaw line and her sharp cheekbones. Her pale blue lips were straight and never curved upwards or downwards to show any emotion other than the blankness she was showing now.

Her usual beaming blue eyes had lost their sparkle and were just dead, her walls were built like the perfect spy she is said to be. Her school uniform hug off her as her body seemed to drown under all of the fabric. Her skinny arms always hidden under her thick woollen jumper with her bony twig like fingers coming out as she pulled the sleeves further down her arms; her tights even seemed to be loose on her legs. They had lost all of their muscle from her years of hard work and intense physical training had just dissolved with her that summer.

At the back of the room she was invisible, just how she liked it; people stopped sending her worried looks as they were all in vain. It seemed that the weak girl didn't want to save herself just to fall apart and crumble. The teacher stood at the front of the room at his desk peering over his thick glasses watching the class as they wrote out their essays, but when his dark copper eyes landed on the breathing skeleton at the back of the room he just shrugged and carried on with his marking.

The sound of frantic pens scribbling against crisp white paper echoed inside of her brain like a fog horn and she tightly tapped her unused pen against her closed notebook as she watched the hand on the clock count off the seconds until lunch time. _Tick tock, _then finally the hand reached the twelve and then bell signalled it was time for lunch. The students placed their pens down and followed the teacher's instructions to hand their papers to the front. Metal scrapped along the hard floor as they stood up and quietly chatted to one another about what they had written down.

Then they were dismissed and the girl was the first out, her colour changing eyes a mixture between hazel and a deep orange copper as she went in the opposite direction that everyone else. No one seemed to care as her knife sharp elbows jabbed into their sides as she showed through it all until she got to the end and then peeled back the Gallagher tapestry and crawled down the tunnel unnoticed. Nearly.

_But everyone you know, is tryin'a smooth it over,_

_Find a way to make the hurt go away,_

_But everyone you know, is tryin'a smooth it over,_

_Like you're trying to scream underwater,_

_But, I won't let you make the great escape,_

Cammie sat inside of the passageway her face still showing no emotion even though no one was there so see her in the dim lighted area. Drips of water splattered off the cold concrete that she sat crossed legged on, rummaged through her bag she pulled out a piece of smashed glass. A mirror. She caught a glimpse of herself in the triangle piece of glass and the sharp edges were rough against her smooth fingers.

Then she pulled up her sleeve to reveal an arm that was pale and covered in old and new scars. Some were nearly white and small but the further you travelled down her arm they got redder and deeper and fresher. Cammie then gripped the shard of mirror so tight the edges began to draw blood from her fingers, but that didn't faze her as she placed it on her pale skin. Cammie made no pressure at first or even moved it; however slowly she put more pressure on it and watched- mesmerized- as the glass dug deeper in her skin.

The hot flames of pain travelled across the growing cut as beads of blood ran down her arm like the tears that never fell from her eyes. Then seemingly not satisfied with the pain she was feeling she began hacking at her arm ripping open her arm until there was more open wounds then unharmed skin. Her whole arm was covered in a layer of red blood as the cuts bled across the mirror and her arm then flowing onto her skirt dying the purple plaid a dark red. Then for once some emotion washed over her face, happiness.

A small smile had curved the corner of her lips as she looked at the hacked at arm and she felt the hot pain cascade all over her entire arm, then as if this was a regular scenario- which by the look of things it was- she grabbed an old shirt from her bag and tightly bound it around her arm and pulled her jumper down over it and left the passageway. She slithered from the small hole and her internal clock told it was the last lesson of the day, only twenty minutes until the bell went telling the school the lessons were over.

But to Cammie that meant she had twenty minutes left to get herself cleaned up.

_I'm never gonna watch you checkin out of this place_

_I'm not gonna lose you_

_Cause the passion and the pain_

_Are gonna keep you alive someday_

_Gonna keep you alive someday_

So she used her legs to jump up the stairs three at a time, she reached the door to her dorm and swung it open to reveal a room that was unbalanced. There were three beds with colourful covers and pictures outlining the wooden frame of the bed. The bed stand next to the bed was cluttered with books and photo frames showing off four gorgeous girls- all differently gorgeous in their own way.

However there was on bed that was nearest the door, with an off white sheet that was tightly tucked under the mattress. The bed frame was not lined with pictures put you could tell it once was from the way the sun had dyed a couple of rectangles into the wood. Cammie walked towards the bed and placed her bag lightly on the floor next to it then she went to small door in the far corner of the room.

Once she was in the bathroom she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the pale girl staring back at her, the way her eyes were no longer a midnight blue but a dark rusty old copper colour that no one really liked. Her frail fingers clung to the cold white sink as the blood loss made her body unbalanced and her basic spy skills a bit off. She took off her jumper then the homemade bandage and she carefully cleaned up the dried up blood and the cuts; afterwards she bound it with an actual bandage so tight it was cutting off her natural circulation. That didn't matter to her at the moment in time.

Soon she was showered and changed into a pair of navy cropped sweats that hung from her waist and landed just below her piercing hip bones, she had on a cami best that was meant to be tight and fitted but now it barely reached her sunken in skin. Then to cover her arm she put a dark red zip up hoodie. Then she heard some familiar voices of girls heading towards the door to her dorm and she ran to the bed and curled up into a ball keeping her head straight as she watched the door knob, her eyes holding nothing but emptiness and death.

The door swung open to reveal three flawless girls with gaping smiles across their faces daring to spilt their heads into two, when they saw Cammie in a ball the laughter drifted off and the smiles dropped to be replaced with painful smiles. They then awkwardly shuffled around the room with silent whispers about stuff on their homework.

A petite girl with a blonde bob and gleaming pale green eyes looked up from her textbook to the girl who hadn't moved a single muscle since they entered the room, "Shouldn't you be doing your homework Cam?" She asked a Southern accent coming through as she did.

Cammie didn't bat and eye lid or even show some sort of movement to show she heard what she was saying, then a girl with black glossy hair straight from the cover of VOGUE sent the girl an understanding look, "Cammie we miss you, please talk Liz is getting really upset over it." You could easily hear the plead in her voice, she missed her best friend. It was understandable. But when Cammie didn't respond she just sighed and sat back in her bed and continued studying.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes turned into hours, but Cammie still stayed still like she had been frozen in time while the rest of the world moved around her. As if she was the only one in the movie to be paused. As the three girls sat talking in the corner there was a small knock on the door and an exotic beauty stood up and walked to the door to reveal a tall boy with chocolate curls rolling down his rigid tanned features. A small smirk played with his lips and his green mesmerizing orbs sparkled until they landed on the girl in the ball on the bed.

His smirk fell and his eyes transformed into pain, anger and love all rolled up into one, "Has she spoke yet?" He asked, his soft velvety tones filling the silent room. The girl shook her head her deep brown eyes filling with sadness as she tilted her head over her shoulder to look at the girl in question. "Can I talk to you Bex, and Macey and Liz?" He asked stretching his neck around the door as the other two girls stood up and they all stepped into the hall closing the door behind them.

_I feel like I could wave my fist in front of your face_

_And you wouldn't flinch or even feel a thing_

_And you've retreated to your silent corner_

_Like you decided the fight was over for ya,_

"You okay Zach?" Macey asked the tall boy who rubbed the back of his neck to show his stress, his green eyes glowed in the soft moonlight that peeked behind some dark grey clouds.

"Okay? Are you having a laugh Mace, she hasn't spoken since she got back; she hasn't ate a full meal since she returned. She is skinnier than when she actually came back from months on the run. And the worst part is she doesn't seem affected she just lies there all night practically dead!" Zach's voice was raised as he swung his arms above his head for effect his breath heavy showing his anger.

"You don't think we haven't noticed Zach, she is practically a mute. Now please just relax." Bex explained her British accent thick as she spoke the love and worry for her friends evident in her voice as she looked back at the door that is still closed. "She doesn't sleep anymore because if she bloody does she wakes up sweating and screaming, she is hurting Zach but we need to give it time for the wounds to heal. She will eventually let us in- we need to give her time." Bex said as if she was reciting a cheesy fortune cookie.

Zach rolled his eyes and looked down at his feet, "We are running out of time Bex, I need my Gallagher Girl back." All of the girls looked up at him with so much sadness; he seemed to be taking it the worst anyway. "Also last time I checked Bex you hated her for running off, so don't give me that crap about giving her time. You didn't exactly welcome her with open arms." Zach said his green eyes boiling over with anger as he stared down at the brown ones, their short fuse getting considerably shorter.

"I have forgiven her Zach, I realised she did it to protect us. Maybe if you stopped wallowing in self-pity you would realise she did the same for you, you know fine well if you went you would have gotten killed in an attempt of being the knight in shining armour." Bex retorted back her fists clenched the veins up her arm creating streams of adrenaline and blue.

"Just get lost Baxter." Zach spat out his voice dripped in venom as he stormed off down the corridor leaving the girls looking shocked at the sudden mood swing of him.

The girls re-entered the room to see Cammie wasn't on her bed anymore but instead she was sitting on the edge of her bed slipping on a pair of black converse her short hair falling over her face, "Where are you off to Cammie?" Macey asked stepping up behind her trying not to sound too angry but she didn't succeed. Cammie stood up and just looked at her right into her icy blue eyes her copper ones lifeless.

Cammie just stared at her and then handed her a box that was locked and just said one simple instruction, "You will soon when and how to open it. No sooner and no later." Then with that cryptic message she left the room leaving behind three confused girls staring at the small red petty cash box in Macey's hands.

They could effortlessly break it open, Cammie knew that, but the pain and emotion in her voice showed that she trusted them to follow her wishes.

_I'm terrified of the dark, but not if you go with me_

_And I don't need a pill to make me numb_

_And I wrote the book on runnin',_

_But that chapter of my life will soon be done_

Zach lay on his bed with his short hanging off the end and a pair of grey sweats. His impressive six pack on show as he lay there with damp hair and his arm flexed behind his back. He looked up at the white ceiling and traced patterns in it trying to think of what to do with Cammie.

Of course he blamed himself for her near death departure and her heart crippling return, he planted the seed inside of her head. If he hadn't said those foolish words before summer she would never of left she would have stayed where she belonged. Then she would never have come back more damaged and lost than when she departed.

He moved to his side to then catch a peak of a silver photo frame with delicate swirls and intricate patterns engraved into the metal. The frame held a photo of a girl who looked nearly the double of Cammie; however the girl in the photo had sapphire blue eyes that seemed to change colour from the different angles the sun shone onto them. Her face was fuller and her skin wasn't ghostly white but a natural tan and her lips were rosy pink and curved into a genuine smile revealed sparkling white pearls.

Her hair was platinum and tumbling down her back in lose curls, the layers catching the sun rays as the poured from the sky. Zach smiled at the girl in front of him- his Gallagher Girl the girl he had fallen in love with. His heart swelled with love for the girl in front of him and he knew the broken girl he saw tonight was still there. She just needed that little touch of love and compassion that only he could supply; he always had a way to break down her walls without realising it or even saying anything. Just like she managed to do the same with him- he however was as much in the dark as she was about his.

"I miss you." Zach breathed out his peppermint breath fanning the glass and he tried to imagine those days before she had left to find answers to safe everyone but herself.

Clearly he wasn't going to be getting asleep anytime soon she he lifted himself up from his back and slipped on his Blackthorne tee shirt over his nearly dry curls and then slipped on some trainers and left to walk to no purpose around the silent sleeping walls of Gallagher.

Zach just walked with his head bowed the cog in his head working overtime as he planned out what he was going to say to Cammie when he next saw her, he hands buried deep in his pockets as he walked. Then as he passed Dr Fibbs science labs he saw a hunched over figure in the corner of the room. The moonlight showing off her bad roots and dried up hair, it was Cammie.

Her body was limp and her back was slumped down in the chair her arms loosely hung across the wooden arms of the chair, her head hung forwards with her legs outstretched in front of him. The teenage boy in him wanted to just walk off and leave her in spite and since he hadn't yet worked out his plan yet he didn't want to talk to her yet. But the spy in him told him to stay because things weren't right- the whole description screamed bad news.

So he walked over to the door and opened it carefully walking over to the girl who sat in front of a table with an empty test tube lying on it. Seeing her chest wasn't rising and seeing the sticker on the glass tube indicating its old substance was dangerous he ran to her side. Cammie's eyes were drowsy and kept fluttering open and closed, her lips were slightly parted as she sensed a presence.

"Gallagher Girl what have you done?" Zach asked his eyes brimming with tears as he violently shuck her shoulders making her whole body shake like a rag doll. "Answer me!" He demanded the fear showing in his voice as he refused to cry, he didn't need to she was going to be okay. Or so he told himself.

Cammie opened her mouth then closed it again to finally say something, "This is it Blackthorne Boy." A small smile played on her lips as she spoke silent tears slowing trailing down her face. "I died ages ago, back with The Circle back in the summer. The girl I am now is just a shell of the girl I used to be- the girl I want to be. I need to join the rest of me- I am in too much pain to stay here on this earth. I was meant to go ages ago." Cammie explained as Zach shook his head as more words left her mouth; he kept repeating 'no' again and again as if that would stop the damage already created.

"If you hurry we can save you." Zach pleaded getting hold of her already icy cold skin. But Cammie just shook her head and placed her hand on Zach's cheek and said five of the most painful words Zach had every had to hear.

"Goodbye Zach, forever and always."

Then a tear slide down Zach's face as Cammie's eyes shut and her breathing stopped, her palm had dropped from Zach's face and to her leg.

_I'm the king of the great escape_

_You're not gonna watch me checkin outta this place_

_You're not gonna lose me_

_Cause the passion and pain_

_Are gonna keep us alive, someday_

_Yeah the passion and the pain_

_Are gonna keep us alive someday, someday_

_**Just not today.**_

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**Please review! Did you like it, love it or hate it? Let me know, first time attempting to write in this sort of way and I don't think I fully succeeded but I hope you still enjoyed it. The last line in bold isn't actually the song by the way just my ending to it to try and make it emotional… kind of failed though.**


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